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Arrow Thoughts & Open Thread: The Man Under the Hood

I guess a lot of things happened in this episode, but I really just want to talk about Laurel. I was so thrilled to watch her figure things out in this episode. She even has a murder board! After Sara’s doctor tells Laurel about Sara’s old injuries – apparently doctor/patient confidentiality doesn’t exist in Starling City? – Laurel actually manages to put it all together. Well, every conversation in this episode was interrupted, so she never quite says what she pulled together, but she says she knows who the Arrow is and then she seeks out Oliver and hugs him: “What’s this for?” “Because you’re important to me.” Aww. Interestingly – and frustratingly – Quentin doesn’t want to know who it is, because he recognizes it’s easier for him to use the Arrow as a tool if he doesn’t think about him as a person.

I have questions about Isabel’s corporate takeover. Primarily: No matter how much Isabel “dilutes” the stock, if the Queen family still has a majority of the overall stock, how can it be worthless without the company being worthless? Anyway, I was disappointed that the motivation behind Isabel’s actions turned out to be her love for Oliver’s father – I was hoping for something that didn’t revolve around a romantic plot.

Poor Thea is still mad at her family over the paternity revelations, though I wasn’t sure why the lawyer didn’t just go to her directly for necessary signatures instead of trying to make her meet up with her relatives she didn’t want to see. The poor girl finally realizes the Tommy connection: “I tried to kiss my half-brother before my real father killed him. That’s how screwed up I am.” And then: “I was never going to be okay. It’s not in my genes.” It’s Isabel, of all people, who reveals that Queen knew about Thea’s paternity and ignored it, and Oliver seizes on this: “He chose us. He chose you. He made a decision to be your father even though he didn’t have to be.” Thea’s unconvinced so far: “It tells me he’s a liar. Just like both of you.” I hope she comes to some sort of peace with the situation soon, though I also wouldn’t be surprised if Merlyn pops up and messes it all up again.

In this episode, we also met Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, S.T.A.R. Labs scientists who are set to be characters on The Flash spinoff. I didn’t develop any strong feelings about either of them, really, but they were fine and I’m looking forward to watching that show if it goes ahead. It sounds like Barry is not doing very well – I guess him waking up might be in the first episode of his show? – but, to Felicity’s chagrin, he has a woman spending a lot of time with him: “That’s just swell. Barry’s in a coma and he’s already moved on.” Aww, poor Felicity.

Other favorite lines and points of interest:

“Felicity, this was your plan.” “I didn’t think you would actually say yes.” Funny, and also an interesting commentary on their dynamic.

“For the record, I hated her before we figured out she was a supervillain.”